My somewhat idyllic childhood, rural, peaceful, unfolded on a small family farm outside of Andale Kansas where I learned the values of hard work, dedication, perseverance, and the courage to maintain integrity to one's ideals and dreams. I have carried these values through my medical training and into my work as a physician. I have a strong science background with a special focus on biology and chemistry. I am applying for a residency position in Internal Medicine and would very much like to attend a program with a strong academic and teaching focus. I have personal friends who are doing there residency at the XXXX Department of Internal Medicine and I see the area as my home. This is why your program is my first choice for a residency position. I would feel especially honored by the privilege of service at your flagship university. My camaraderie among current residents helps to underscore my sense of being a good fit with your program. I am pleased that the program serves two large community based hospitals in support of its teaching mission. It is the profound educational purpose that most attracts me to your program, the emphasis of hands-on clinical training for resident physicians as well as medical students. I look forward to the opportunity to serve my community further through training and participation in your program and refining the requisite skills of a primary care physician. I am also drawn to the special challenges of crisis medicine, as well as general internal medicine. I want to stay in the best of Kansas, in a caring community that provides the opportunity to achieve full educational excellence. I am especially interested in doing research on diabetes since this is one of the most prevalent diseases that an internist will encounter and associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. &nbsp;I am especially pleased with the great strides that we have made in our treatment of diabetes, but I am also fascinated by so much that we still have to learn about the exact causes and pathogenesis of diabetes. I would be especially inspired by the opportunity to work in the area of disease prevention as well as the most efficacious treatment strategies for diabetes.

My long term goals include becoming a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. I look forward to serving for many years as an internist at an academic and teaching hospital. I love nothing more than learning about medicine and then relaying my knowledge onto others and I hope to someday train medical students and residents. Another long term goal is to someday look back to my days of being a student and resident, and remember what it was then that I most wished that I could have learned from my attending and residency positions, educating others in a way that is consistent with there level of training. My ideal job would be to spend the bulk of my professional life as a member of a group practice at a teaching hospital, training residents and students, sharing call and weekends among my group. I would love to remain in Wichita to practice, but I am also open to the idea of establishing myself in Kansas City, or perhaps another part of the U.S.

Finally had the chance when I took a one year medical leave of absence from medical school. My little brother Kevin remains an important part of my life, an act of moral integrity to my own experience, long wishing that I had an older brother while growing up myself. This has helped me to recognize how to reach out to others who are in need and to exert a positive influence in the lives of at risk or underprivileged youth. This is why I look forward to serving many patients of all ages who are in need of a physician who can teach them, educate them, and guide them in the right direction. I have also been trained as a Certified Nurses Aid while attending XXXX University in 2000. Over the summer after my third year at XXXX, I got a job at a family practice clinic in Wichita as a medical assistant. I have also worked for several family practitioners as well as one internist, a vascular surgeon, and a urologist. I have been responsible for initial patient intake, vitals, phlebotomy, EKG's, assisting in minor surgical procedures, phoning in prescriptions, and returning patient phone calls. I especially enjoy interacting and developing a good rapport with patients. These professional immersion experiences have helped me to better appreciate the tremendous dedication, work ethic, and compassion that is required of the complete physician. I was able to see first hand the stress that doctors often work under, the affect that tight schedules had on there family and social life, and helping them to respond successfully to their difficulties has helped to steel me for the taxing pressures that I will face in the future.

Working as a medical technologist at the XXXX County Detention Center for one summer, has helped me to understand the distinct needs, issues, and concerns of inmates with many different medical needs. And, I worked as a pharmacy technician at XXXX in Wichita part time during my third year of clinical clerkships. I worked at night, after my daily clinicals were over, for several months, to help support my 2 year old son who lives in KC with his mother.

I gained valuable experience concerning medications and there side effects as well as how to deal with insurance companies and sometimes difficult customers. I am a very hard worker and dedicated to whatever I decide to do in life. I learned at an early age to take pride in my work, and to always do the best job that you could do, no matter how important or small that job may seem. I love medicine because it requires that one have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a profound desire to learn many new things every day. I am a great listener and a very compassionate person who wants to give his all to your program; and I want to thank you for consideration of my application.